New Delhi: acting based on the Order of National Green Tribunal (NGT) and several observations carried out by different courts, the Ministry of Environment has come out with standard operating procedures (SOP) to handle cases of green violations.
Steps that must be taken against mistaken projects include demolition or close non-obedience units and rigid punishments under the principle of ‘pouter trips’.
SOP Five points, issued for various institutions including the Central Polution Control Board (CPCB) and PCB Countries this week, also includes procedural details for identification of violations and non-compliance, and formulas to impose punishment.
Under the provisions of the penalty, new projects that have not started operations must pay 1% of the total project costs as a penalty for temporary violations of projects that are mistaken where the operation has begun will also pay 0.25% of the total turnover during that period.
Violation.
Provisions, issued by the Ministry as’ Office Note ‘(OM), taking into account proportional principles’ and money, collected as punishment, will be used as’ costs for improvement measures’ in areas that have been damaged by the environment.
However, environmental lovers say that this regulation must go through the right notification, issued under the 1986 environmental law (protection), and this should not come through mode OM.
“The central government is not circulating draft, it is also not looking for public comments.
The substantial law cannot be applied through OM,” said Ritwick Dutta, environmental lawyer and founder of legal initiatives for forests and the environment (life).
He said, “It’s problematic because for the first time the applicant has the option to comply with or not obey the law.
If they find that compliance with the law is expensive, they can decide to continue without approval.” CPCB and PCB countries have been empowered to take action against violators In accordance with SOPs that have been prepared to accelerate actions against violators of green norms throughout the country.
SOP, issued under the notice of environmental impact assessment (EIA) in 2006, said that projects that were not “permitted” for the provision of environmental permits (EC) would be destroyed.
On the other hand, projects allowed but have not received the previous EC must be closed “to EC given” or to return to the production level if the EC previously exists but does not have green permits to increase production or expand units such as industry, mine and buildings , Om also talks about preparing “mechanism for reporting violations of regulatory authorities”.
Dutta believes that SOP does not have a legal basis.
“It is important that the ministry must be interesting and in fact strengthens the provisions of the punishment in the Environmental Act (Protection), 1986 which will function as a better deterrent,” he said.